Welcome back to the unSeminary podcast. We’re talking with James Griffin, the lead pastor at Crosspoint City Church in Georgia.

Is your church working through a difficult season and struggling to see fruit? Wondering how a church can overcome significant challenges and emerge stronger than ever? In this episode of the unSeminary Podcast James shares about the church’s growth following a difficult replanting phase, the hurdles they faced—such as rebuilding trust inside and outside the church—and the effective strategies they used to enhance community engagement.

God isn’t done. // Crosspoint City Church was planted in 2006 but an event within the church rocked it to the core early on, causing a mass exodus of people. James took over as lead pastor during this time of recovery, inheriting a wounded congregation and a challenging staff environment. He knew he had to stop the bleeding in the church and earn the trust of its members while also being a positive force in the community and letting them know that God isn’t done with them yet.
Build relationships. // People can’t know if you’re a man or woman of character unless you spend time with them. From the start, James made it a priority to be present and accessible, engaging with congregants through conversations, lunches, and community events. By building relationships, he wanted people to see that he is a man of character, hoping it would lead to trust sooner than later.
Honor the past. // Things may not have ended well in the church with the people who came before you, but acknowledge the accomplishments and positive impacts made. Don’t dishonor your predecessors. Be honest about the current reality and the challenges being faced without ignoring the good that has been done.
Work with other churches. // James also actively sought to establish relationships with local pastors, attending meetings and reaching out for one-on-one conversations. He firmly believes that God puts churches in their communities to be a blessing to them. If you want to have a Great Commission church, you need to think about the impact God is calling you to make on your city. Work in partnership with the other churches in your community to be more effective in your mission.
Create a culture of care. // As your church grows, the pastoral care can’t fall entirely on the senior leader. Everyone needs to feel loved, but you can’t worry about everyone feeling loved specifically by the lead pastor. Instead build a culture of care by pouring into your leadership team and empowering them to offer pastoral care to the rest of the congregation. One leader can’t carry all the weight of that burden on their own.
Service and compassion. // One of the most significant ways Crosspoint City Church has sought to serve its communities is through the establishment of their Compassion Center, which aims to address various community needs. The Compassion Center includes a counseling center, educational programs for kids and adults, resources for the homeless, support for women escaping sex trafficking, and a mobile medical clinic. This multifaceted approach demonstrates the church’s commitment to not only proclaiming the gospel but also actively demonstrating it through service and compassion.
Focus on what each city needs. // Contextualize ministry based on your locale. Before planting a church or launching a campus, go into those communities and identify partnerships with local pastors, churches and community leaders. Start with service. How can you go in and bless the city based on what it needs before you even begin gathering?

To learn more about Crosspoint City Church, visit www.crosspointcity.com, or follow James on Instagram.

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Episode Transcript

Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast! So glad that you’ve decided to tune in. I’m really looking forward to today’s conversation. A fun chance to deep dive with a great church! If you’ve never heard of Crosspoint City Church, it’s a multi-site church with three, I think, soon to be four campuses in Georgia, and has repeatedly been one of the fastest growing churches in the country.

Rich Birch — Today it’s our honor to have James Griffin with us. He’s the lead pastor, and it also serves as a church planting network leader in metro Atlanta with NewThing and Engage Churches. He’s passionate about seeing the Great Commission fulfilled, the church engage in a number of global and community outreaches. Super excited to have you on the show today, James. Welcome.

James Griffin — Thanks, Rich. I appreciate you having me.

Rich Birch — Oh, it’s going to be great. Kind of fill in the picture. Tell us a little bit more about Crosspoint City. Kind of give us a, you know, the thumbnail people arrive this weekend, but what they experience that sort of thing.

James Griffin — Yeah, yeah. Well, a brief history of the church. We are a replant. So I’ve been pastoring the church now for a little over a decade.

Rich Birch —That’s amazing.

James Griffin — Inherited somewhat of a difficult situation. And then we just took the resources and people who were left and we started over. And so, you know, if somebody showed up this weekend, I think what they’d experienced is, a deep commitment to the word of God. I think they would experience a church that is sold out to the Great Commission, the mission of God, and a great openness and dependency upon the Spirit of God. And so we’re just trying to press into to the work that God’s called us to do in the world. And and it’s a joy and an honor to be a part of it, for sure.

Rich Birch — Love it. Well, you have multiple locations, and we love to talk multi-site here at at unSeminary. Maybe give us a thumbnail about the kind of various, you know, what does that look like? The kind of different locations. Tell us a bit of those stories.

James Griffin — Yeah. So, original location is in a city called Cartersville, Georgia. So this is where it all began back in 2006. And then in 2011, things here, they went off the rails. And so I was actually on staff at the church that planted our church.

Rich Birch — Okay.

James Griffin — And in the season where things blew up, my wife and I were, were praying about going to plant a church. And then my pastor asked me if I’d come here and do this instead. And my original answer was absolutely not. Like, I don’t know I don’t know what idiot’s going to do that, but it’s not going to be this one, you know? And then here we are over a decade later.

Rich Birch — Yes.

James Griffin — But started in Cartersville and from about 2013 to 2018, I mean, things were just going really well, better than expected, which led to conversations about, hey, we need to think beyond just Cartersville. If we’re going to continue reaching people with a gospel, it can’t just be us trying to get people to one spot. And so we planted another location in the fall of 2019, in a city called a Adairsville, which is in the north part of our county, just about five months before the pandemic. So that was great timing.

Rich Birch — Perfect timing.

James Griffin — Yeah. So we joke and we said we did that one twice. You know, we launched it five months before…

Rich Birch — Yes.

James Griffin — …and then shut it down and reopen. And it’s going great. And then in 2022 launched a third location in a city called Rome, Georgia. Just had a great group of people driving about 45 minutes to Cartersville to come to church and asked us if we do something there. So we’ve been doing that for a couple of years, going really well. We just launched, about three weeks ago, our fourth location…

Rich Birch — Okay.

James Griffin — …i...